Afterglow Faded
by Serena Thorn
Summary: Follow-up to “Afterglow Fading”. Elle is paying the price for loving a married man. Noah/Elle, Sylar/Elle


Title: Afterglow Faded

Summary: Follow-up to "Afterglow Fading". Elle is paying the price for loving a married man.

Rating: PG-13

Pairings: Elle/Noah, Elle/Sylar

Warnings: One F-Bomb, character deaths

Spoilers: 3x11

Disclaimer: Heroes is not owned by me, but by Tim Kring. I'm simply borrowing these characters for non-profit entertainment.

A/N: Picks up where "Afterglow Fading" leaves off, goes AU from 3x11 and blends aspects of 5YG with 3x04 - even tackling that pesky "How did Sylar and baby Noah end up in the Bennet house?"

* * *

Noah stood frozen in the doorway for almost a full minute as his brain tried to process what Elle had just told him. With that one sentence she had told him that she was pregnant, that he was the father and that she was keeping their son. Their son. Okay, make that four things she had told him.

That was hardly the way Elle had anticipated telling Noah any of those things, but given their relationship it seemed fitting.

None of what they had become had been planned. Why should their child have been? He was still married, Angela had fired her from Primatech, she had watched her life crumble before her eyes and there Noah had stood unable to hide his shock for once in all the time she had known him.

"I can't -" Noah had croaked.

"Talk? Yeah, I had that problem at first too. Remembering how you'd thought it was your fault that you and Sandra couldn't have your own kids, but then there was Kyle -"

"Lyle," he corrected with a sigh.

"Whatever. Point is, if you didn't want this to happen you should've been more careful yourself. If you don't want your new son to know his father, fine. But either way he will exist, he will grow and I'm keeping him and giving him your name whether you're in his life or not."

Those words stayed with Noah. Elle had sounded so in control, so sure. He hadn't heard her like that in too long. She was serious and he hated what had brought it out in her. There was a time he would have been thrilled to hear he was going to be a father again, a small part of him even then did enjoy the fact it was his child inside of Elle. But he wasn't so naïve as to ignore his real life, his other life. The life that would have been ruined if his wife or other children found out about this development.

When Elle had disappeared he had almost found it comforting. He had told her what he couldn't do, what he couldn't be. Following that Elle had tried to go on with her life. But then her power began to overload her. Likely a side effect from Sylar having tried to kill her back at Primatech that horrible day. Either that or this was one hell of an alternative to morning sickness from mini-Noah.

Whatever it was she knew she needed help, that she needed answers. Where else could she go? Back to Noah's it was. But he hadn't been there. Claire had been and after a verbal sparring match, a dumped bucket of water and some Wizard of Oz references they had been on their way to Pinehearst to try to figure out a way to deal with their powers not functioning like they should be.

Seeing Sylar had been a shock for Elle. Him being able to take her anguish from, at least that brought on by her power, had been even more surprising. She knew then she had a plan. She would never forgive him for what he had done to her father. But she needed someone, she needed to feel wanted. Sylar was being nice, caring almost. Very un-Sylar, more like the Gabriel she had known a year and a half before. It almost made her like him.

Two days later she really put her plan into motion. She wanted her son to have a father and she knew she could do worse than this version of Sylar. Of course his 'Yes, Sir" side was getting old fast but she was desperate. She hadn't known her mother, she had only had her father. Should the worst happen she wanted to be able to give her son some kind of life.

Of course for her plan to really work she would have to bed Sylar and soon.

The answer to her silent prayer had come sooner than she expected. He had pulled her into that kiss at the Canfield house and one thing had most certainly led to another in moments. Of course Bennet coming in, guns blazing, hadn't been part of her plan. There hadn't been time to wonder if his jealousies had played a part in that. And shooting the mother of his unborn son? Not part of the plan either, but then she had only been thinking of her own plan. She couldn't know what Noah had in mind.

Noah wanted Sylar dead. Plain and simple. He thought he had gotten his wish later that day in the back of that grocery store. But then the eclipse had passed, Sylar had healed and got Elle out of the service elevator.

They had disappeared that day, forming their own life. Domesticated Sylar was an interesting concept to Elle, but she dealt. Especially when the time came for her to finally admit to him that she was pregnant.

Sylar had been too happy to wonder if he wasn't the father. After all they had certainly been enjoying themselves (and each other) enough for it to be possible. Well, had Elle not already been pregnant before she and Sylar had gotten involved.

Six months passed before Elle saw Bennet again. He had been staking out their apartment, waiting for the right moment - much like Elle herself had in the past outside of his home. When Sylar had left on one afternoon he made his move.

"What are you doing here?" Elle quietly demanded.

Noah couldn't help but glance to her round belly. He hated himself still for this, but still he had a silent promise to follow through on. Maybe he couldn't be a father to this child the way he should have been, but damn it he would still provide for him and his mother how he could.

"Are you going to talk or did you just come here to stare?" she asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"There's something I want you to have," he finally told her as he reached into his pants pocket.

"You're about eight months too late for a condom, Bennet," she smirked wryly.

He sighed. He knew he deserved that kick in the gut. "It's a key," he stated as he handed it to her.

"To what?"

"My home."

"You want us to live with you?" She laughed. "I'm sure your wife and Claire will love that. Sylar too - sure, we could all be one great big happy family."

"What does Sylar think of you naming the baby after me?"

She shrugged. "That it's fitting. He always wanted to be like you. Family man, but not afraid to do the things he has to. He's just more upfront about his double life than you are. He includes me in both sides which I have to admit is more than I can say for some."

That kick he certainly felt lower than his gut. "Sandra's moved out. Claire's heading to college. Lyle's coming with me to D.C. I'm giving you and our son the home you deserve."

"What's the catch?"

He shook his head. "There isn't one. I can't give you what I wish I could, but I am giving you what I can. I wasn't lying when I told you I love you. I do love you, Elle, I do wish that I could be what you need. But I also know what's realistic for us, this is your life now."

Elle had no idea how this had become her life. She still often considered Sylar a monster, she still had yet to forgive him for killing her father and now she was lying to him almost constantly. In some ways it was fair, be she still hated that she had to do it. She should have been able to live out the fantasy with Noah, but that wasn't possible now.

It became even less possible a few years later when Noah had been killed. Fucking Matt Parkman sure knew how to hold a grudge. Of course Sylar had been blamed however.

Then the fallout happened, all of the so-called Heroes forced to choose sides. Depending on where you stood Sylar and Elle had chosen right (just wanting to be normal and pretend all was well). Claire had chosen the darkness (leading a resistance, becoming an assassin, killing certain specials without remorse when ordered).

Elle's fear had proven itself justified when her son was just three. Claire had gotten her revenge, she had killed Elle. And Sylar was next on her list.

Claire and her new friends, Knox and Daphne (the latter ironically her father's killer's wife) knew where Peter Petrelli from the past had gone. She had known it the second she heard he was in Costa Verde. It was time to pay her former monster a visit.

The End


End file.
